The Japanese House after 1945

A major exhibition on Japanese single family homes is still on for a few days here in Tokyo. I did not manage to see the same show’s version on in London (nor Rome) a few months back, but bought both catalogues to compare.

Inside shot from the MOMAT exhibition

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Five-year anniversary

It’s been five years to the day that I started writing this blog, in Tokyo. Herewith a look back at some of the highlights and ideas for the future. Some of it may come across as a big tap on my own shoulder, so read on being warned.

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Tokyo as a slum, continued

A few weeks ago I discussed the concept of “Tokyo as a slum” and how apt it is to describe living conditions in the postwar period. This is important if we are to glean how useful Tokyo’s experience is to today’s emerging megacities. A more fitting description, I found, may be that of “shared space poverty”. I took a good look at the 1963 Housing Survey for data to support that line of thinking.

1963 construction on the Metropolitan Expressway (photo source)

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